In Unison
by Lapis Love
Summary: They had been lost souls and found peace and solace in each other during their last moments. Whatever happened on the other side they would do so together and that was the most important part. They were together. Journey with Bonnie and Damon as they let go of their reality and escape to paradise. Based off the finale scene in 5x22. Tentative one-shot.


**A/N: Here I go again doing what I said I wouldn't do. But 5x22 and the feels they invoked just wouldn't stop pestering me. I'm hoping in putting this out there it won't seem redundant because of other season finale fics that have been written, but I will say that *chromeknickers* and *tracycook* y'all inspired me. If you haven't checked out Wings and If These Wings Could Fly, I suggest y'all do so. Beautifully written stories by aforementioned authors. I'm just adding to the collection and definitely not trying to copycat Enjoy!**

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

"Insecurity is when you turn up the volume on all the wrong voices.  
Truth is everything you tell yourself when you realize you are the only one still listening.  
Self is whoever you become when the door is locked."

**B||D**

The links of friendship that had once been thought to be unbroken, impenetrable began to weaken with age, neglect, and rust. One by one they began snapping off, untethering what had been bound together through sisterly love, respect, trust, honesty, and spilled blood.

She never actually thought the day would come when she would be a hundred percent okay with the world around her falling apart.

Moving in and out of existence was robbing her of the last visages of life. Already she felt her pulse slowing down, her organs malfunctioning, as the deaths of the supernaturals ravished her unkindly and weakened her severely.

But her will of heart was stronger than any physical embodiment of power. She could do this. She could give everyone close to her, everyone who had been an extension of herself that little slice of happiness if she just held on. Then she could rest.

Bonnie tried not to think about loss. Something better was waiting for her once the Other Side imploded, and all she had to do was hold on for a little while longer, and her torment would be over, and her peace would begin.

Saying goodbye to Jeremy had been gut-wrenching but necessary. They needed this closure since they had had so many missed opportunities in the past. To get it right. To make amends and leave no stone between them unturned. There wouldn't be a do over this time. You cheat death and it would stop at nothing to get even. All she really could do was look death defiantly in the eye like a Great Man once did and say, "No man can take my life. I freely lay it down."

Being loved and loving had been a gift. Being alive, smiling, and spending time with her surrogate family had been worth it. That's what Bonnie would hang on to.

She wouldn't die in vain.

The wind blew riotously, almost hard and strong enough to knock her down, but Bonnie remained upright. She had taken one last look at everyone—locking their faces into memory. Confusion reigned supreme and for once the urge to placate their worries was absent. Finality had settled in with Bonnie and she vanished to the Other Side to meet her end.

If Lexi and Grams could accept their fate and find peace in the face of insurmountable odds, she too, would do the same.

Footfalls vaguely caught her ear but she refused to turn away from the sad sight in front of her. A place that had existed for two thousand years brought down by a single sacrifice. Nothing but death and loss seemed to be infinite.

"This whole place is going down, isn't it?"

That seemed kind of obvious but Bonnie answered, "It is."

The howling wind filled in the awkward silence that lulled between them. Ironic they would be the last ones standing. The one person who had the guts and the balls to bring her back would be the one to stand beside her as it was all about to end.

Maybe she should laugh? Bonnie had cried enough tears to fill quite a few swimming pools, and though she had more reasons than others to be angry, she wasn't. She was grateful for the time she had, the people she loved, and for the one who looked after her.

She turned her head and looked up at the self-serving, self-sacrificing Salvatore. "I'm sure there are a million other people we rather be with but…" her thought trailed off as she reached for Damon's hand.

Without question or making an inappropriate quip, he interlocked his fingers with hers. In unison they looked down at their joined hands. Each of them could count on one hand, and maybe three fingers how many times they made bodily contact with one another since meeting.

One: Damon tracing the slope of her face with his fingers while he threatened her up against a car wanting Emily's crystal back.

Two: When he wrapped his arm around her and viciously tore into her neck with his fangs and nearly drained her dry.

Three: Damon grabbing her right arm when Mason Lockwood made a go for her left.

Four: The night of the 60's Decades Dance where they held hands like they were presently doing, weighing her odds of survival, planning shit, and much later that night, Damon cradling her in his arms.

Perhaps that should count as two separate occasions.

Five: They came into physical contact again at another botched decades dance and Damon fed Bonnie his blood to save her life.

Six: The hug on the island. Damon remembered; Bonnie didn't.

Seeing someone almost practically every day but literally being able to count how many times you touched that person? Was that unfortunate or just a byproduct of their clashing and meshing lives?

Their eyes became fixed on one another. Blue and Green. No fear reflected in either of their gazes. Of all the people he could wither off into eternity with there were a lot of worst options, Damon supposed. At least he'd be going to the great beyond with a beautiful young woman.

"A couple thousand at most," Damon said.

Bonnie chortled.

A blinding white light caught both of their attention and they looked away from each other wondering what might on the other side of it. The wind had increased once more in velocity blowing their hair back from their faces causing them to squint.

"Will it hurt?" Bonnie asked. The last thing she wanted to go through was more pain before finding peace; almost seemed like it defied the purpose of finding peace.

"I don't kno…" Damon's voice faded.

Bonnie panicked.

She didn't know what to expect. To end up somewhere in an amniotic-like substance, to disappear entirely, to see nothing but endless darkness with her eyes wide open never being able to adjust to anything because there was nothing to see?

Grams' words came back to her. She made sure she found her peace. How could existing in a black pit be peace?

Bonnie expected to tumble, to hurtle through space and time, to race with shooting stars, or ride on the back of a comet. She thought she might become weightless and just float until she was catapulted to wherever this peace was. She had braced herself to feel pain once the pale blue light glowed brighter, much too bright for her to stare into it without burning her retina. None of the sort happened.

She squeezed the hand that was still locked with hers, but Bonnie couldn't see Damon. She felt him—hopefully that was him and not another lost soul who latched on to her.

The light consumed them both like a gelatin engulfing an inanimate object. They were simply devoured, blinded, their senses momentarily cut off except for touch.

Bonnie opened her mouth to speak but no words would come because she lost them all. What was there left to say? She was scared but also fearless if that made any sense. What could be worse than being the anchor and having people pass through her and reliving their painful death? Or being stripped of her magic? Or being made to feel inferior to those who didn't understand the basic concept of what it meant to be a teenaged girl with inordinate power?

For his part, Damon kept his cool. He could still feel Bonnie's hand in his but he couldn't see her. The light was just too bright and it was actually stinging his eyes because of his heightened vampire senses. For one minute fear tickled his spinal cord and he thought he might be heading toward the sun. There wouldn't be a point to his daylight ring if he was about to be fired to death regardless of it.

As bright as the light was, it was tepid. Not boiling hot, and not Siberia cold. If they were moving it was very difficult to tell. Maybe they weren't really going anywhere. That would suck and be terribly anticlimactic.

Bonnie moved, or shifted and he felt himself being pulled after her. She took another step and he wanted to question if she thought it was a good idea to get any closer to the source of the light. He could barely discern her heartbeat over the howling of the wind, and in the next second his feet were moving swiftly across the ground, but he wasn't controlling it. Some_thing _was making him run and that confused the hell out of Damon. He was still very much in his physical body, but his physical body seemed to be heeding the command of someone else.

Surprisingly he didn't trip or stumble, and if he had to take a gander he would say he was moving at twice the speed he usually ran as a vampire. It was exhilarating. And for one wild second he allowed the euphoria to wash over him and he full on smiled, something he hadn't done in ages. He felt the creases in his skin around his eyes crinkle, and the seductive crescent moons around his mouth deepen, and all twenty-eight of his pearly white deadly teeth were showing.

When he made an attempt to ask Bonnie if she were having fun, the ability to speak became temporarily out of service. But Damon didn't really need words to explain how awesome this felt although they could have been heading toward the fiery pits of hell for all he knew.

What was that saying? The road to hell is paved in good intentions?

It had been his intention to save Stefan. It had been his intention to bring back those who died way before their time and for a cause they didn't exactly sign up for. Burning forever would be his reward? Could he get a refund on his anti-heroism?

Damon was uncertain about how much time had passed since he took those first couple of steps before he was running across whatever he was running across. He heard a groaning noise and attempted to look behind him, and though it took a whole hell of a lot of squinting on his end, he saw the literal walls of the Other Side falling down like dominos. Crumbling like a building that had been rigged with dynamite and set to explode.

His grip on Bonnie's hand tightened. If they didn't make it to wherever they were going they would ultimately get crushed as the walls of the other side avalanched into a pit of darkness.

Whatever was directing his body, he implored it mentally to pick up the speed. They had to make it out of here _now!_

Bonnie heard what was happening behind them but she couldn't see and truthfully she didn't want to see. She kept her eyes forward and her legs moving. She would have already been winded by this point considering she had never been that great of a runner before. Her caboose often slowed her down.

How much longer? How much longer? They both thought as their legs kept moving across the vastness of existence it seemed. Damon wholeheartedly expected to see a caveman and a dinosaur, maybe some people who drowned during the sinking of the Titanic. So far it was just he and Bonnie and a part of him really hoped it remained that way.

The once overbearingly bright light began to recede in illumination. Damon quickly picked up on that and terror began to eat his stomach. No, they weren't going to make it! If they didn't reach the end of the tunnel and the darkness of the disintegrating Other Side got to them first…_fuck _that they were making it!

With one hard pull, he yanked Bonnie toward him and slung her into his arms bridal style, and began zooming as if he were Usain Bolt 2.0.

"Daaaaammmmooonnnnn," Bonnie yelled as she held on to him like a cub to its mother or in this case father.

She snapped her eyes closed because the fury of the speed was making her dizzy and nauseous, and the last thing she wanted to do was vomit her final meal all over Damon. Come to think of it, she thought, all I had to eat was a granola bar I found in the bottom of my sock drawer.

The light which had been their guide was fading with every step taken and shrunk that much out of reach.

Gritting his teeth, Damon was two seconds from blowing a gasket and telling whoever was holding the flashlight to quit fucking around. The light was shrinking; the darkness was right on his heels. Decision made, Damon tightened his arms around Bonnie and flung himself towards the light as if he were tackling a quarterback.

Both of their bodies barely cleared through the receding tunnel of light, but they managed, shot through it, and landed with a harsh thud.

"The hell?" the wind had been knocked out of Damon.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked breathlessly. One of her arms was still slung over his shoulder while her knees sunk into…earth.

She blinked and kept right on blinking until her vision adjusted to the sight in front of her.

Towering trees with leaves so green they looked extraterrestrial was all around. Botany was far from one of her hobbies, but Bonnie had been able to identify five different species of trees and at least three of them provided a food source.

"Damon?" she shook him and then used his shoulder to hoist herself to her feet.

Bonnie turned in a full circle unable to believe where she was.

Damon swiped his fingers under his nose expecting to come away with a bloodied hand but there wasn't a single drop. Chuckling darkly, he finally looked around and his jaw dropped.

Slowly he rose to his feet. "What is this place? Where are we?"

Bonnie looked at him over her shoulder. "I don't think there are any signs that are going to give us that answer."

Damon resisted flipping her off and looked around to examine their new digs. Everything seemed to be real. The wind blew much more calmly and it was warm against his skin. He could smell…roses, hyacinth, orchids, honeysuckle, lilies, and a myriad of other flowers. What Damon didn't hear was a single bird or rodent scurrying up a tree or soaring through the perfect blue sky.

Great, what was he supposed to eat?

He could worry about his diet later because there was one major factor that was demanding his utmost attention. He—no _they _were alive and for now nothing appeared to be around that would harm them.

Damon brought his blazing aquatic orbs back to Bonnie who sensed his gaze like a stroke. Though he was no longer touching her, her skin shivered nonetheless. She faced him and he was actually smiling.

"We made it," Damon laughed.

Bonnie fought her smile tooth and nail and forfeited. "We did," a tear fell from the corner of her eye and she didn't wipe it away. She craned her head back and said, "Thank you, Grams."

Having heard that, Damon took a step toward her. "Your grandmother did this?"

The former witch and anchor nodded, her brow deeply furrowed. "She said she looked out for me. I had no idea what she was talking about, but…" she held her arms aloft, "I guess this is her version of looking out for me."

Damon nodded and kept his rebuttal to himself. As he took another step he froze and scented something on the air. "I smell smoke."

Alarmed, Bonnie began looking around the immediate area but saw nothing but the swaying trees and the blades of glass that stretched on for miles. "Where?"

"I don't know," Damon began heading toward the smell of smoke.

Bonnie fell in line behind them.

Together they crossed the endless forest spotting several ponds, streams, estuaries, and had finally spotted a bird or two. A swan and a pelican.

Damon wondered how big this place was. He estimated he and Bonnie had been walking for half a mile but they had yet to come across the source of the smoke.

"Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?" Bonnie asked over Damon's shoulder.

He tapped his nose, "This still works remarkably well. You can't smell it?"

"Only faintly." Pause. "Are you still a vampire?"

Damon tried to make his fangs appear but they didn't budge from their sheath in his gums. The idea of drinking blood still thrilled him, but the frenzy he usually experienced while thinking of the fluid which kept him animated was subdued. Almost non-existent. That should worry him but he suspected he would have bigger issues to contend with.

"I'm pretty sure I still am. I'm just not hungry at the moment," he purposely dragged his eyes over her and leered.

Bonnie rolled hers in return. "Don't even think about it."

The vampire chuckled and stopped walking. Bonnie plowed into the back of him.

"What the," she began to complain but what lay in front of her stopped her cold turkey from speaking. "Okay wow."

"Indeed," Damon concurred.

His expectation had typically erred on the low side for as long as he could remember. So tagging along with Bonnie, he had been unsure of what awaited him.

Part of him knew he shouldn't be here. This place, this paradise, this break from all their bullshit hadn't been intended for him and Bonnie, just Bonnie. He was infringing on what her Grams painstakingly put together for her, and a tiny part of him screamed this wasn't right.

Damon searched Bonnie's face and saw her awe and trepidation. He reached for her hand again and that was enough to have her snap out of her daze and focus on him. They had come this far together, and that silent understanding passed between them.

Two tripods burned outside of a stairway that had been carved right into a mountain which suddenly blocked their path. The stairs seemingly went straight to the top and whatever was up there, was shrouded in clouds.

Damon chuckled dryly.

The irony of his life seemed to continue. He peaked? Hardly.

To be continued…maybe….

**A/N: I have so much on my plate I don't know if I will continue this. I just needed to get those dang blasted Bamon feels out of me. So how did I do? **


End file.
